Fast-Finishing Metaboss Much the Best in El Camino Real Derby

Metaboss surged clear late in the El Camino Real Derby for a dominant victory on Saturday at Golden Gate Fields (Vassar Photography)
Patience is a virtue in horse racing, especially when it comes to race riding, and it paid off handsomely for Metaboss on Saturday at Golden Gate Fields in the $200,000 El Camino Real Derby.
Metaboss received a Hall of Fame ride from his Hall of Fame jockey Alex Solis and closed like a locomotive to pass seven horses in the final five-sixteenths of a mile for a 2 ½-length win.
Despite a dawdling early pace, Solis kept the Street Boss colt reserved near the back of the field with only two horses beaten entering the final turn of the 1 1/8-mile race.
Heavily favored Conquest Typhoon led the field into the stretch, but most of the 10-horse field was in striking position for a sprint to the finish, including Metaboss, who had accelerated powerfully on the turn and was racing in the clear outside of the leader.
“[Trainer] Jeff [Bonde] has done such a good job with this horse,” Solis said. “I was very happy that the first part he was very relaxed; he has a very nice turn of foot. At the five-sixteenths [pole], I got him out in the clear and he did the rest.”
Metaboss shifted gears professionally under Solis when he hit the top of the stretch and lengthened stride to seize command. He dispatched his overmatched rivals and surged away to a visually impressive victory.
“You see slow paces on this surface and horses can still close,” Bonde said of Golden Gate Fields’ synthetic main track. “The important thing was we told Alex [Solis] to ‘ride you own race and he will come with his kick,’ and he did.”
Metaboss completed his final three-eighths of a mile in less than 35 seconds and his final furlong in less than 12 seconds, so he was really moving in the stretch. He completed the 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.92 on Golden Gate’s synthetic Tapeta Footings surface.
Metaboss sold twice at auction. He was purchased by current part-owner Mersad Metanovic for $10,000 as a weanling at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale in 2012 and was reported as sold for $60,000 at the 2014 Barretts May sale of 2-year-olds in training.
After finishing third in a turf sprint in his career debut in October at Santa Anita Park, Metaboss finished fourth in the Juvenile Turf Sprint on the Breeders’ Cup World Championships undercard. Bonde then opted to test Metaboss at longer distances and it has paid off.
He finished second to highly regarded Bolo in a 1 1/16-mile turf race in November at Del Mar before winning his 3-year-old debut at 1 1/8 miles on the grass at Santa Anita on Jan. 4. The El Camino Real Derby was his first attempt on the main track, and the experiment worked about as well as Bonde could have hoped.
More than surface, though, Bonde said the added distance has been the key.
“This horse, when he got to go extended distances, he was a different horse,” Bonde said. “He has improved by leaps and bounds.”
Metaboss earned 10 points with the win to move into a tie for ninth place on the Road to the Kentucky Derby Leaderboard. Sent off at 6.60-to-1 odds, Metaboss returned $15.20 for a $2 win ticket.
Cross the Line rallied from seventh to edge Conquest Typhoon by a neck for second. Harmonic, who was last through a half-mile, finished another half-length back in fourth.
Bred in Kentucky by Mr. and Mrs. John A. Toffan, Metaboss is out of stakes-placed winner Spinning Yarns, by Free House.
For an Equibase chart, click here.